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Mercato Centrale: where Florence shops and eats

The Mercato Centrale was built when Florence was the capital of Italy and wanted a market worthy of one. Giuseppe Mengoni, who designed the Galleria in Milan, gave it a hall of cast iron and glass, and it opened in 1874.

What it is
Walk
Time to allow
1 to 2 hours
Cost
Free to enter, pay for what you eat
Best time
Late morning on a weekday

Florence this week

    Why the Mercato Centrale is worth it

    The ground floor is still a working market. In the morning the stalls sell beef for the Florentine steak, wild boar salami, pecorino, dried porcini, fresh pasta and every part of the cow that the city's cooking uses, which is most of it. It winds down in the early afternoon and is shut on Sundays.

    The upper floor was empty for years. Since 2014 it has been a food hall, open from morning until late at night, where a dozen or more kitchens each do one thing: pizza, fried fish, dumplings, truffle pasta, chocolate, with a bar in the middle. It is not cheap and it is not a secret, and it is still a good place to eat with people who cannot agree.

    Round the building the streets are filled with the stalls of the San Lorenzo market, which sell leather jackets, belts and bags to visitors. The best of Florence's leather is sold elsewhere. The stalls are for looking, and for bargaining if you enjoy it.

    What to see

    1. Lampredotto

      The street food of Florence: the fourth stomach of the cow, simmered for hours, sliced into a roll and dressed with green sauce. Ask for the roll bagnato, dipped in the broth.

    2. The boiled beef sandwich

      For those not ready for tripe, the oldest counter on the ground floor does the same roll with boiled beef.

    3. The butchers

      Look at the bistecca alla fiorentina before you order one in a restaurant: a T-bone three fingers thick, from the white Chianina cattle, sold by weight.

    4. The food hall

      Upstairs, under the iron roof. Take a table first, then send one person at a time to the counters.

    5. Schiacciata and wine

      The flat salty bread of Florence, split and filled, is sold at the bakers' stalls. The wine bars round the market pour Chianti by the glass from the morning on.

    How to do it well

    • Come to the ground floor before one o'clock. After two most of the stalls are shut.
    • The ground floor is closed on Sundays. The food hall upstairs is open every day and into the night.
    • Stallholders will vacuum-pack cheese and salami for the journey home. Check what your own country lets you bring in.
    • Sant'Ambrogio, the city's other covered market, fifteen minutes east, is smaller and has far fewer visitors.
    • A food tour is the easy way to try lampredotto, schiacciata and the wines in one walk, with someone to explain them.

    Where it is

    Address

    Piazza del Mercato Centrale, behind the church of San Lorenzo

    Nearest station

    Santa Maria Novella station, about five minutes on foot

    Museums and sights nearby

    Distances are in a straight line.

    Tickets and tours: Mercato Centrale and the San Lorenzo market

    Mercato Centrale and the San Lorenzo market: common questions

    When is the Mercato Centrale open?
    The ground-floor market trades in the morning and early afternoon and is closed on Sundays. The food hall on the upper floor is open every day from morning until late at night.
    What should you eat at the Mercato Centrale?
    A lampredotto or boiled beef roll on the ground floor, then cheese and salami from the stalls. Upstairs there is fresh pasta, pizza, fried fish and gelato.
    What is lampredotto?
    Tripe from the fourth stomach of the cow, simmered with tomato, onion and herbs and served in a roll. It has been the workers' lunch in Florence for centuries.
    How much time do you need for the Mercato Centrale?
    Allow 1 to 2 hours. That is this site's estimate for an unhurried visit.

    What visitors say about the Mercato Centrale

    Rating from Google

    4.4

    59,104 ratings on Google

    Google's figures as read on 11 October 2026.

    Read every review on Google

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